http://andersonmaples.com/news.html Andy Maples: the Maple Leaf Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:09:00 -0800 http://andersonmaples.com/news.html#20
It will not be long till we will be singing those beloved Christmas Carols and enjoying the holidays with our friends and families. I trust that everyone is gearing for a wonderful holiday season, filled with Christmas cheer. We are coming to a close with the Fall Retreats. It has been a good retreat season for us, even though we have had to deal with some last minute cancelations and poor attendance to some of our hosted events. The winter retreat dates are booked up and we appreciate the opportunities we have to minister to each of our retreat groups.

We had a ton of rain this fall. I am not sure if that means that we will have a harsh winter or not. We do hope for snow for our winter retreats, even though the snow makes for more of a hardship for us as far as shoveling and maintaining the fires in the furnace at the Lodge and staff housing. I enjoyed being able to be with my family for Thanksgiving Day. It is a blessing that I do not take lightly. I also enjoyed putting the finishing touches on the recording project with Stan Williamson Productions. I hope to have the CDs available by the New Year but it may take a bit longer than that, considering that I thought the project would have been completed by last summer. Lord willing I will be able to spend the Christmas holidays with my family in Knoxville, but with the price of gas and the constantly changing economy, I am just not sure if I will be able to swing it financially. That is a big prayer concern for my ministry and the ministry of the camp as well.

I had a wonderful time with the high school group during our annual Teen Retreat. I had the opportunity to lead worship and to teach a seminar on the Seven Churches of Revelation for this event. I also had the opportunity to teach this to one of our retreat groups from Jacob’s Church EC. Great response from the kids in this group. I could tell the Lord was doing a work in them.

I am still active with some of the local churches and local ministries as I was last year. On Tuesday mornings, I help at the elementary school in Hyndman by driving a group of students to the Time Release Bible Study at Grace Methodist Church. Most of the kids who attend this are kids I know from camp so it is helping me get to know them better. I also lead music for them. On Wednesday night, I lead music for another youth group at Calvary Bible Church. I took part at leading worship for a communion service at Pennwood Bible Church in Everett PA that I thoroughly enjoyed. I have had a lot of fun working with each of these local ministries.

The Senior Citizens of our local churches came out to New Life on November 9th, to have lunch and enjoy a Gospel Music concert by local favorite, John Topper. John asked me to sit in with him and we had a great time playing old hymns and some bluegrass style songs for the group. It was a fun time and I enjoyed the chance to show off some of my picking licks.

New Life is hosting its annual Small Group Retreat and Men’s Retreat in March. The Small Group Retreat’s theme is “Soaring in the Spirit. Josh Hobbs, Youth Pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church will join us to speak for a couple of the sessions. The Men’s Retreat theme is “Living in the Land of the Giants” and my good friend Larry Douglas has agreed to be our speaker. We are expecting to pack out the lodge for both of these events. This summer, our theme has a Australian lean. We are calling it “Boomerang.” We will be studying the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer in our Cabin Bible Studies. Feel free to give me a call or drop me an e-mail at maples@newlifebiblecamp.com if you know of a church group who may be interested in booking a retreat in 2012.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas experience and enjoy a very Happy New Year. God’s blessings be upon you all!

Thanks for your prayers & support.

- Andy Maples]]> http://andersonmaples.com/news.html#20 Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800 Songwriter & Worship Leader - Andy Maples - the Maple Leaf